


a promise to share

by serendipitousDescent



Series: Drabble Challenge [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16268900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitousDescent/pseuds/serendipitousDescent
Summary: If Tatsuki were here, she would be just a step behind her, saying something like, “What did you expect?” Which would be closely followed by a firm, “We’re getting out of here, Inoue. Hanging around the warehouse district is not my idea of a fun afternoon.”





	a promise to share

Orihime peeks around the corner, only for her shoulders to slump at the sight of an empty alleyway.

If Tatsuki were here, she would be just a step behind her, saying something like, “What did you expect?” Which would be closely followed by a firm, “We’re getting out of here, Inoue. Hanging around the warehouse district is not my idea of a fun afternoon.”

In this imaginary conversation, Orihime would then protest with, “But what about-”

“I’m leaving, so unless you want to stay here by yourself,” Tatsuki would say, entirely unrepentant about cutting her off.

Maybe Orihime would realize that Tatsuki was simply being overprotective of her at that point, before allowing the conversation to drop. Or she could smile and laugh, warm from the thought as she declared, “You would never leave without me, not if I might get hurt.”

Tatsuki would definitely snort after she said that, but there would be a smile hidden in the corner of her mouth, waiting for Orihime to notice it. “Honestly, I’m more worried about whoever decides to approach you.”

Both of them would be laughing as Orihime allowed herself to be pulled away, because their memories of Orihime joining Tatsuki’s karate classes are fond. On another person, it would appear distant, but for Tatsuki, she might as well be smothering Orihime with affection. That is just the type of person Tatsuki is.

All of that would happen, if Orihime weren’t already here alone.

Tatsuki left Orihime to walk home by herself, oblivious to the oddity of Rukia being gone. Orihime would blame it on the upcoming National competition, if it weren’t for everyone else forgetting about Rukia as well.

After her conversation with Kurosaki, the cat had been too tempting to ignore. It kept pausing and looking back at her, almost an invitation to follow.

Almost as odd as whatever Kurosaki and Rukia had been doing this past month. It even had the same air to it, the same pull that she is less willing to ignore than she had been last month at the hospital. It caused the same thrum of energy to ring through her.

“Ah.”

Orihime jerks back, her back pressed flat against the side of a warehouse. Her fingers automatically press against her lips, a shocked noise nearly slipping free before she can stop it.

A moment passes, then another. The wide spaces between the warehouses are just as silent as they were before, only now they are filled with the physical presence of another person. A person who appears as a shimmering figure at the other end of the warehouse when Orihime forces herself to look back around the corner.

Kurosaki looked like that at the hospital last month. He was a shimmering outline, right up until the next time Orihime spotted him running around in that black kimono. Then he appeared as clear as day, like wiping the steam off the mirror after a bath.

The dull outline of their head moves upwards. “Is someone there?” they call out.

Her heart stops.

That is a man’s voice, deep but quiet. A voice Orihime has never heard before, and somehow that makes this feel more real than Urahara approaching her and Sado the other day. More real than Ichigo running around Karakura, invisible to most. More real than her brother, changed into something monstrous.

Those things are no less realistic than her own dreams. A man who sounds gentle, whose footsteps are barely audible over her heartbeat isn’t the sort of thing she dreams about.

Orihime inhales at the realization and ducks back behind the wall, squeezing her eyes shut. But her fingers keep twitching and the faint sound of footsteps continue. Energy rushes through her, the strength of it like a whip Orihime has no idea how to use.

“Excuse me,” comes that soft voice, “but I sensed your spiritual pressure, and-”

Orihime forces one eye open, then yelps at the man now towering over her.

Except her yelp peters off into a confused whimper when that whip inside her unleashes itself, and a light surrounds them both, bright enough to blind her.

“Oi, asshole! Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Orihime blinks the black dots from her vision, then - presses her hand to her mouth, this time in an attempt to hold back the giggles welling up in her chest.

Cute is the only word for it.

The man in front of her, his appearance now as clear as day, may be a gentle giant, but her gaze is fixated on the fairy-like creature hovering between them. It’s draped in dark cloth and edges, but it’s just so… small. So adorably enraged as it puffs out its chest at the stranger.

A squeak breaks free as something tugs at her hair, laughter mixed into the sound when the dark creature twitches at the noise. There are six of these creatures in total, but she already knew that.

After all, Orihime spent the entire day yesterday in her hotel room, attempting to bring them back into existence. They were always inside her, that was what Tsubaki said when she defended Tatsuki, but nothing she tried had worked, no matter how hard she willed it to. No matter how vividly she imagined them hovering in front of her as they are now.

“You just going to stand there, saying nothing?” Tsubaki demands, and Orihime blinks, her face flushing when she remembers the man standing there. “Shouldn’t have expected anything else from someone like you!”

“Tsubaki-” Orihime cuts herself off with a wince as Tsubaki launches himself at the man’s face. “Tsubaki, please stop!”

Tsubaki swivels around in one smooth motion, swooping down to grasp her bangs and tugging upwards. “Don’t just stand around and let this guy walk all over you, you pathetic idiot!”

“Hey, stop it!”

“Then stop doing stupid things!”

“We don’t even know who he is,” Orihime declares, reaching up to rub her forehead with a pout as Tsubaki finally lets go. “Besides, he doesn’t seem like a bad person.”

“Hachigen.” The flurry of movement around her stops at the sudden interjection, and the man -Hachigen - smiles hesitantly. He must be a meter taller than Orihime, but all she can think of is a kindly grandfather. Although that could be the mustache. Or his suit. “You are also welcome to call me Hachi, if you prefer.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Hachi! I’m-”

“You can’t tell someone like this your name,” Tsubaki snarls before she can finish.

Shun’o nods enthusiastically, hardly waiting for Orihime to breathe. “Tsubaki and I don’t typically agree with one another, but he is right about this. Hachigen could still be a threat to us. We don’t know what type of being he is.”

“I don’t know what you are either,” Orihime points out, even as she smiles back at Hachi.

“Only because you never pay attention, half-brained dumbass! We _are_ you, always have been.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t listen to Tsubaki,” Ayame whispers into her ear, inaudible to anyone else. “He’s just insecure because he doesn’t know what he is either.”

Orihime snorts, then beams up at Hachi without any further hesitation. If he does turn out to be an enemy - and she doesn’t think he will - they will protect her, just as Tatsuki would if she were here.

Besides, Lily is currently flying circles around his head, a thousand questions filling the silence between them, and all Hachi has done is watch her fondly. That doesn’t seem like the sort of thing a bad person would do. And Orihime has always been more likely to go with her gut than common sense.

“I’m Orihime Inoue,” she says, brightly.

Hachi glances back at her, his smile unwavering. “It is nice to meet you, Orihime. And these peculiar creatures of yours as well. I understand they have names of their own?”

“They do, but...”

Hachi holds up a hand as he slowly shakes his head. “Please, keep that information to yourself. My own abilities already have a similar construction of spiritual pressure as they do, but their names can only hold great power.”

“Your own abilities?” Orihime asks before she can help herself, and hope starts to grow inside her like a newly-sprouting flower, soft and delicate.

And hadn’t she overheard Rukia and Kurosaki muttering about spiritual pressure at the hospital? Sado must have his own abilities too, otherwise Urahara wouldn’t have approached both of them.

Except her and Sado both don’t understand their abilities. Different already from Kurosaki, different from whatever Urahara is - different from everyone except Hachi, led to her because of a cat of all things. As soon as Kurosaki mentioned saving Rukia, Orihime had already been decided.

Kurosaki will not save Rukia alone.

“Yes,” Hachi says, gently, “my abilities. I specialize in creating barriers myself, but-”

“Can you teach me?”

Everyone stops at once, leaving Orihime to stand a little taller, to refuse to rescind her request.

Hachi stares at her for a long moment before glancing off in the distance. Then he sighs, and his shoulders slump. “You should meet the others before I decide anything.”

“Others?” Orihime asks, automatically.

“They won’t like this,” he tells her, but he’s already started to walk, slow enough to invite her to walk alongside him. Towards the other end of the warehouse, where everything had looked so blurry before.

Hachi sounds resigned, but Orihime can only hear it as a promise.

A promise that she will be able to stand on her own two feet.

A promise that she will help Kurosaki to the best of her abilities, whatever those abilities may be.


End file.
